Communication between a doctor and a patient is of crucial importance in the medical field. Consistent, reliable, secure, trustworthy and seamless communication between a doctor and his/her patient may save lives, improve patient care and decrease healthcare costs. In the healthcare field, patients prefer hearing from and communicating directly with his/her doctor, dentist, and/or other healthcare professional. The intimacy associated with personal communications between a healthcare professional and his/her patient may add to the merits of patient care and may provide better treatment options and outcomes.
Currently, there exists a problem in the healthcare field wherein missed appointments may negatively affect the revenue of a medical practice and may reduce the consistency and quality of care provided to patients. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that there are over 1.5 million healthcare professionals, particularly doctors, in the United States. The average lost revenue due to missed appointments in a medical practice may be twenty percent (20%) or about $125,000.00. Similarly, the average lost revenue due to missed appointments in a dental practice may be between eighteen percent (18%) and twenty two percent (22%) or about $138,000.00.
Existing solutions to reduce missed appointments may not be effective. The appointment reminder task is currently carried out by the least respected person in a medical office. The receptionist may make collection calls, may ask for payments and co-payments, may handle billing, may inform patients of pricing estimates, may inform patients of the services that may not be covered by their insurance policy, may impose late fees on patients, and may impose late appointment cancellation fees. In terms of the degree of respect that patients have for workers in the healthcare industry, doctors and dentists rank the highest followed by nurse practitioners, hygienists, nurses, and dental assistants, with receptionists being at the bottom, partly due to the tasks they are required to carry out as part of their daily responsibilities. Therefore, the appointment setting and reminder function is not a prudent task for a receptionist to carry out.
A doctor's involvement with the appointment setting and reminder task may prove beneficial. Doctors command respect from all corners of the globe and across all income levels. Doctors have a direct impact on a patient's life because they advise patients on their health, and save lives with surgery and treatments. In recent years, the number of newly trained doctors has declined. With the baby boomer generation set to retire, there has never been a greater need for more doctors. The high level of education required to practice medicine successfully, coupled with higher salaries, puts doctors at the top of the list of respected professionals.
Current practices to reduce missed appointments include canned appointment reminders utilizing existing methods such as postal mail, text messages, electronic mail, and telephone calls. Existing methods require proper verbiage when calling patients, reconfirmation and follow up of appointments, late cancellation charges for missed appointments, taking deposits for certain appointments, and most importantly, medical and clinical staff involvement in patient education and placing value and/or urgency on the importance of appointments. Presently, appointment reminder tasks and calls are handled by non-clinical staff and/or receptionists. As discussed above, the appointment setting and reminder function is not a prudent task for a receptionist to carry out, and a doctor's involvement in this process may be advantageous.
The impact of missed appointments cannot be ignored. Missed appointments may potentially affect a patient's health through interrupted continuity of care and/or missed opportunities to solve an acute health problem. A doctor may also lose an opportunity for a timely review of a patient's health, treatment progress, etc. Missed appointments may also disrupt the healthcare system. The care of other patients may become postponed and these patients may not have access to care. There may also be a liability risk that may arise from missed appointments. A patient that misses an appointment may suffer an injury, and may have a viable cause of action in a lawsuit against a doctor's medical practice. To avoid such risk, a doctor may have to maintain sufficient evidence of giving and/or delivering clear instructions to the patient. The doctor may also have to make reasonable efforts to ensure a patient's compliance with a care program, including keeping follow up appointments.
It will be appreciated that a medical practice may suffer lost revenue due to missed appointments. The patient may have to be called to reschedule, and the medical practice may have to undertake cumbersome documentation efforts including follow up letters. This ultimately contributes to the poor utilization of valuable and expensive medical resources and may also negatively affect the doctor-patient relationship. What is needed is a secure and reliable method and system to facilitate doctor to patient communication.